Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thistle Soup, 5 Mar 2003
By A Customer
What a pleasure it is to read a memoir that isn't all doom, gloom and full of murky details of a tortured childhood. This set-in-Scotland book, like the author's stories about his later life in Mallorca, is brim full of the feelgood factor, although his infectious sense of humour is touchingly offset by some sad moments that he treats with an understatement that makes them all the more moving.
He transports you into the heart of some of Scotland's most beautiful scenery, and his memories of a quieter, simpler way of country life make you feel as if you are actually there. His accounts of other aspects of his life - civil servant, jazz musician, record producer - seemed a bit incongruous at first in what is basically a story of a farming family, but they are weaved into the text in such a way as to add reality and a peppering of variety.
As in 'Snowball Oranges' and 'Manana, Manana', the images and characters portrayed by Peter Kerr are so vivid that the book seems ready made for film or TV. Producers take note! Another really entertaining book, Mr Kerr. More like it, please!
A reader from Edinburgh, Scotland.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grand!, 27 April 2003
By A Customer
Those of you who are 30/40 something and under - take note. This book will make you think "Oh yeh..." (or even "my God!") about the people above your generation in your town, village or city. I don't think it sets out to do this deliberately, but it does bring to life a fascinating view of where the civilised world (not just Scotland I emphasise) was a mere 60 or so years ago and how rapidly things have changed to where we are now. This is a unique time to live in right now - think of when TVs were not commonplace, when wars were fought on our shores (and families were directly affected rather than watching it from the armchair), when fun was gained through more wholesome pursuits than they are now...... not that long ago.I got a lot of perspective from this book - it is wonderfully written and I have now ordered the other two books this author has published. You will also be treated to a ton of ticklish humour. A most enjoyable and heartwarming read.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thistle Soup, 18 Feb 2003
By A Customer
Having read and much enjoyed Peter Kerr's two hilarious books about his family's orange-growing exploits in Spain, I was looking forward to reading the third in the series. But instead he has written this book, which is actually a prequel to 'Snowball Oranges' and 'Manana, Manana', and is set, not in Spain, but in the countryside of his native Scotland.
While much different in many ways from the accounts of his Spanish escapades, this book still contains bags of the Kerr wit and self-deprecating humour. For example, many of us had lavatorial 'accidents' at infant school, but how many of us would own up to them in a book? This is just one of many incidents that had me crying with laughter. But there are tearful moments of a truly sad nature as well, all helping to add a true-to-life dimension to this warm-hearted story of several generations of a rural family.
As in his other books, wonderfully-drawn characters and graphic descriptions of surroundings carry Kerr's readers right into his world. His ability to observe the unusual and quirky in the most 'normal' of things is rare indeed, and his knack of writing non-fiction books as if they are fiction makes one wish that he'd turn his hand to that genre too. Come on, Peter, let's see what you can do ... let's have a novel next!
Submitted by a reader from the UK.
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